


Rivers of New York

by Avonya



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Gen, Inspired by the rivers of London book series, Minor Swearing, Minor Violence, NYC continues to love Peter Parker, ROL isn’t tagged as a fandom because there aren’t any mentions of ROL characters or events, could be considered a, my favorite oc villain Gaia’s back y’all, wing fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-26 00:04:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20034556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avonya/pseuds/Avonya
Summary: Peter meets the East River. She’s nice.





	Rivers of New York

**Author's Note:**

> You guys don’t need to know the rivers of London series but you should, it’s great. 
> 
> Enjoy the fic!

Peter was having a _terrible_ day . Possibly the worst day. 

Nah. There had been worse, like the time Matt got shot, or the time he, Peter, had gotten shot, or the time the hostage standoff resulted in being chased by the police, or the time with the warehouse...

Okay. Peter had had worse days. But still, this one was up there. 

Gaia, his absolute least favorite weekly villain, was back. Peter knew she had the potential to be good. She must have been insanely smart to perfect her transforming material into dirt technology, and instead of using it to recycle plastic or some shit she used it to rob banks and cause general chaos. Gaia could create fully working animal parts and instead of rehabilitating animals she, again, just caused chaos. 

Peter had gotten wings from her once before and had to go to Tony to get them taken off, which sucked, but at least he still had his  _arms_. 

This time? Not so much. 

Peter had been swinging around Gaia, trying to displace her from where she and her long brown robe were hovering, but she must have heard him, because she turned to face him before he was ready. 

“Little spider!” She called, gleefully, and put her hands out to him, palms up, like she was inviting him to hold hands. “Have you come for legs? For fangs?”

“I’m good!” Peter called back, and he dodged a burst of green light that erupted from Gaia’s fingertips. He threw a web grenade at her but she weaved around it. “I’m good with the amount of limbs I have right now!”

She laughed, then shot off a blast too far to the right to be aiming at Peter. “Are you sure?”

An explosion behind him threw Peter off his balance. He threw a quick glance over his shoulder and saw a large pile of dirt where he was pretty sure a statue once was. Dirt rained down from the sky, some large chunks hitting the windshields of cars and breaking them. 

Gaia cackled. 

Peter groaned, and caught himself with a quick web before he could fall too far. 

“Seriously?” He called, swinging back up to Gaia. She had shifted, and to be in the right position meant that Peter’s back had to be facing the East River. Peter could already tell how his day was going to end. 

Gaia tipped her head back and forth as she considered him, and then laughed. She shot a brown beam at Peter, too fast for him to dodge. It hit him square in the chest and the force of it pushed Peter off his web. 

“You said you had the right number of limbs!” Gaia called, as he fell. Sharp pain ripped its way up and down his arms, the suit splitting at its seams. “I agree!”

Dark brown wings burst from the cracks in his suit before the suits arms gave way and they emerged fully. 

“Shit,” Peter said, scrambling. He couldn’t shoot his webs, he couldn’t fly. The last thing he saw before he hit the water was Gaia cheerfully waving. 

Ugh. Peter hated her. 

He hit the water, hard, the force of it enough to shake his bones. His newly formed wings, still not strong, screamed from the pain. 

Shit. Peter looked up, the goggles of the mask acting, at least for the moment, as swimming goggles. He was getting further and further away from the surface. 

Peter kicked. He had the strength, he knew that, but he didn’t have the precision. He wasn’t a swimmer! Besides, swimmers generally had their  _arms_. 

_Okay,_ Peter thought.  _No arms. Suits tech is down, can’t call for help, but couldn’t even open my mouth if it wasn’t. _

He didn’t want to drown but he was thinking with worry that he might. God, he needed some voiceless commands for the suit. 

He sank further, the remaining air in his lungs aching the longer he held it. The feathers of his wings were weighing him down, useless in the water. 

Shit shit shit shit, he thought, mostly incoherent. Fuck fuck fuck—

A hand, an arm, around his waist, jerking him up, higher and higher ,  until he broke through the surface again. Whoever saved him dropped him onto the bank, and he coughed, desperately. 

Peter tried to pull his mask up, above his mouth, but the wings were useless for that. 

“Let me,” a voice said. Peter looked up and saw that his savior was a woman with short brown hair. A part of Peter wanted to say no, but he couldn’t, and besides, the moment her gentle hands touched his face he didn’t know why he wouldn’t trust her. 

She pulled the mask up until his mouth and nose were sticking out, before she stepped back and let him catch his breath. The woman was wearing a swimsuit top and denim shorts. Must’ve been quick dry clothes, because they really didn’t look as wet as they should’ve. 

Peter coughed a little more and took in large, grateful, breaths.

“Thank you,” He said. He wanted to hold his chest, but the long wings wouldn’t really help with that. 

“Couldn’t let the city’s resident hero die, could I?” She asked, and smiled. 

Something rolled off her, something Peter couldn’t quite identify. It triggered his spidey sense, but he couldn’t tell why. It made his skin feel like the water of a wave. 

“Who are you?” Peter asked, carefully. 

“Does it matter?”

“Might,” Peter answered, and started looking around for ways out in case he needed a quick exit. They were on the other side of the river then where he started, but it looked like Gaia had stopped her rampage. 

The woman laughed, then shrugged. “Sure, why the hell not. My name is East River. I _am _the East River. ”

“Okay,” Peter said. He took a second to think. “Are you a god?”

“Yes, actually.”

“Okay,” Peter said again. He considered the woman. Power continued to roll off of her, subtle yet strong like the morning mist. Hey, Thor was a god, wasn’t he? There could be other gods running around, why not rivers? “Yeah, okay. Hey, do you have a phone? I need someone to come get me and get these,” He flapped his wings around by mentally waving his arms, “fixed.”

The East River smiled, and for a second the smell of gas and the citydisappeared, replaced by the smell of salt water and fresh aquatic plants. 

“Yeah,” she said. “I have a phone.”

**Author's Note:**

> Gaia is just the gift that keeps on giving y’all I love that girl. I’ve got half of a daredevil fic which is where she first appears and even though I’ve never finished it I’ve mentioned events that happen there twice (this fic and the TUA crossover fic) so maybe that’s a sign lol. 
> 
> Comments give me SO much joy, so leave one!


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